New Years Resolutions and Such

As I write this thought, 2009 has about seven hours left in its life. By all news accounts, '09 was a bad year. The economy took its toll on people to be sure. More people are unemployed than in nearly eighty years. The dedicated men and women of our armed forces have been in harms way and taken more losses this year than in the years since the Vietnam conflict.

That being said, many people are looking forward to 2010 with the hopes that it will be a better year. The realist in my is not too sure that it will be a better year, unless folks begin to look at priorities in terms of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus has invited us to seek first his kingdom and righteousness...and all of these things will be added to you. A sacrificial love for others, pursuit of the common good, taking on the mind of Christ are just a few of the priorities of the Kingdom that are missing in our society. The absence of community and the righteous love of God has stripped us of our ability to live in harmony with God, with one another, with the world, or even with our selves. Only as we surrender our will, our agenda and our life to Christ can the world truly improve.

As you are planning out your New Year's resolutions, ask Him to reveal to you how you can seek Him and His righteousness more fully and how he may like to reveal himself more fully in you and through you.

A

Knowing God With Us

During the past month I have been preaching a series entitled "Really Knowing Jesus." I have been thinking about, talking about, and praying about having a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship is predicated upon an ongoing intimacy with Christ. That intimacy, for most "believers" is lacking. I find that the intimacy is often lacking in my own life.

I found myself writing in my journal today asking God to open my eyes to the places in which he is revealing himself to me, where he is working in my life, and where he may be found in others and the world around me. This prayer is the heart of "God with Us." I have come to realize that the times when I do not recognize God near to me, when I can't hear his voice, are my fault, not his.

I ran across this quotation today.

God is not real to most of us because of the condition of our consciousness. He is closer to our minds every moment than your own thoughts. He is nearer to our hearts than our own feelings. He is more intimate with our wills than our most vigorous decisions. If we are not aware of him, it is not because he is not with us. It is, in part, because our consciousness is so under the sway of other interest that it cannot turn to him with the loving attention which might soon discern him.

-Albert Edward Day

Discipline and Discover

quoted in A Guide to Prayer, p. 36

I pray that you will come to open your eyes and ears, cast off the business of the world and see God with you this advent season.

God With Us

Advent is a time of celebrating the first and second coming of God with us. After all, one of the names of Jesus is Emmanuel. As I have been reflecting on life recently, I have come to a new appreciation of the power and hope of God with us...especially with ME! Like so many people I am often so very guilty of living my life under the guise of my own agenda, needs, desires, and plans. Yet God wants to be involved with me every single moment of every single day. No decision, no thought that I have escapes his attention. So why do I so often miss that God is with me?

Simply put, God is there, but he does not force his way into my thoughts, attentions or life. He loves me enough to give me the ability to choose.

I stumbled across this thought today in my devotional.

He [God] comes only through doors that are purposely opened for
Him. A person may live as near to God as the bubble is to the ocean and yet
not find him. He may be "closer than breathing, nearer than hands or feet" and
still be missed.

Rufus M. Jones The Double Search

quoted in A Guide to Prayer, Shawchuck and Job, p. 21

I have been thinking about that this morning. How often do we miss the blessing that comes with being a follower of Emmanuel because we do not stop to recognize his blessed presence with us?

I pray that this advent season will be a time of God's presence touching your life in tangible and powerful ways.

Following Hard and Contending for the Faith

Wow, it sure doesn't seem like it has been eight months since I last blogged here. My absence hasn't been because I haven't had any thoughts. It has been because I have been way too busy. Too busy for anyone's good, probably especially mine.

Lately I have been thinking hard about following after Jesus. That is what his calling was to his disciples, "Follow me."

Following is not necessarily a popular thing to do in our world. We value the pioneers, the self-sufficient ones who make their own way. Jesus invites us to trade all of that glory in for the subservient role of following in the sandal steps of the one who come to give us life.

Following is hard to do. Honestly, it means that I (and you) will be travelling some roads that we would rather not. Jesus walked roads that led to conflict, to sacrifice, to self-denial and ultimately to his death. He ruffled feathers. He gave hope. He associated with the downcast and downtrodden. He championed the underdog. He loved the unlovely. All in all the road that he blazed for us was most uncomfortable. He challenged his disciples to leave everything they had behind in exchange for the adventure of becoming like him. They had to follow hard after him.

The disciples lived the challenge to "contend for the faith" (Jude 3). They were prepared by Jesus to live the calling to follow hard and preserve the faith that they participated in. They became like the master to give away the master's love and to participate in his mission.

This is the same challenge that he calls us to today...to follow hard after his love and grace, to become like the master.

Just my midnight pondering...

Fear and the Future

January marks a transition month in the life of our church. We are in the process of transitioning from Advent and the Season of Christmas to the season of Epiphany and Lent. We are further in the middle of planning for the transition from one church year to the next. Personally, many of us began the month by making resolutions, or at least looking forward to what 2009 might hold in store for us. Hopefully we are looking at the transition from winter and moving towards spring. Each of us as the leaders of the Ryot Church must be looking now to the future and listening for God’s calling and leading in our lives individually and collectively.
Even as the past year has brought significant change, so too 2009-2010 will likely hold significant change for us. Many fear that change. After all, change marks the passage into the unknown. We are comfortable with the past and the present, but altogether uncomfortable with the future. The future lies just beyond our control and perception. It is unknown, like looking with intent into the blackness and finding no definition, no clarification.
As leaders and as Disciples of Jesus Christ, we must not fear the future nor fear change. After all, the God that we serve is God in the future as well. We must claim Jeremiah 29.10b-11 as his promise to us, “I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” The Message. God’s calling to us is to be faithfully obedient and to follow him in HIS plans.
God wants to do great things in his church. The challenge for disciples and for leaders is, “Will they surrender their agendas, their resources, their talents and their lives to follow God’s will without question.” My prayer is that you will join me in this exciting journey into God’s plan.